July 16, 1998: Missouri announces the hiring of 40-year-old Mike Alden as the successor to Athletic Director Joe Castiglione.

Alden, who spent the previous two years as the AD at Southwest Texas State, was identified as a candidate by the consultant hired by MU, Chuck Neinas, and interviewed for the job with MU Chancellor Richard Wallace at Gasper’s Truck Stop in Kingdom City. His salary is $150,000, and he inherits an athletic budget that was $13.7 million the previous year. At his introductory press conference, Alden says, “This job, for Mike Alden, is a destination job.”

April 1, 1999: Norm Stewart steps down as basketball coach after 32 seasons, finishing with a 634-333 record at MU. Speculation is immediate that Alden, who has a frosty relationship with Stewart, forced the coach out, but both men say that is not the case. Stewart leaves after making the last of his 15 NCAA Tournament appearances. Finding someone to replicate his consistent success proves to be Alden’s unattainable quest.

April 7, 1999: Quin Snyder, a 32-year-old protégé of Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski, is introduced as Missouri’s basketball coach. Alden also interviews Kim Anderson, Larry Drew, John Calipari and Bill Self — and the decision to bypass Self, in particular, comes back to haunt him...

New Missouri AD Mack Rhoades had a news conference today. Here is the transcript: http://ow.ly/Mmp43

Quote

I thought I’d share, really, what I’m focused on right now and probably what I will be for the next 90 days. Currently, really focused on personnel. I’ve begun meeting with each staff member, and we have over 200 staff members. I sent out an interview form but really want to get to know the people that make up the Mizzou Athletics family. With 200, I’ll probably finish in about a year. But really hope to finish that sometime by mid-summer. We started on Wednesday. I’m almost 100 hours into this job and I think, of those 100, I’ve slept for maybe 10 of them. It’s been a great experience just beginning to get to know staff, so we’ll continue to do that.

Q: Were you in the loop about Pinkel’s extension, and what were your feelings on Yurachek getting the Houston job?

A: I had a moment there where I wasn’t really happy (for Yurachek). I kind of lost perspective. I’m supposed to be happy for a dear friend, and I wasn’t. Then quickly said, “You know what? Things happen for a reason.” ...

The second part of your question was Coach Pinkel’s contract. First, I want to say thank you to President (Tim) Wolfe and Chancellor (R. Bowen) Loftin and Mike Alden. They did a great job. That negotiation, in terms of the terms, the elements of the contract happened before, or were happening right as I was introduced as director of athletics. So I had nothing to do in terms of what the actual terms were...

Florida is somewhere between a top 15 and top 25 job, depending on who you ask, as they have resources, a recruiting base and a relative lack of pressure to win. There are plenty of candidates for the job, but according to athletic director Jeremy Foley, a decision isn’t going to be made all that quickly.

“The key would be to have something in place I would think sometime in June,” Foley said at a press conference on Monday afternoon. “Who knows when it will happen, but again, there’s some time here.”

“I haven’t talked to one coach,” he added. “I [haven’t] had time to do that.”

Dayton’s Archie Miller, Xavier’s Chris Mack and Minnesota’s Richard Pitino have all had their names thrown in the mix, as have current Florida assistants John Pelphrey and Anthony Grant.

There have been 120 games played between Missouri and Kansas, but once the Tigers left the Bog 12 (sic[k]) for the SEC three years ago the rivalry was put on ice alongside Nebraska-Oklahoma, Texas-Texas A&M, Pittsburgh-West Virginia and a handful of other terrific long-standing regional rivalries. If there is any hope to see The Border War revived, it could come with new leadership at both Missouri and Kansas.

“Hopefully, in the future, we can find a way to come together and play, because I think it’s good for certainly his fans, our fans, and most importantly, our coaches and our student-athletes,” Rhoades said in an interview with FOX Sports Kansas City. “So, you know, there (are) certainly no promises, but the hope was we can have some positive discussion in the future.

“I just think the biggest losers in all of it are the fans and the student-athletes and the coaches,” Rhoades said. “And maybe, sometimes, we all — including myself — lose sight of that. And I think we need to remember that. And again, hopefully, we would find a way where we could resume playing each other here in the future.”

As a member of the SEC, Missouri will be required to schedule one football game per season against another school from a power conference (or Notre Dame, BYU or Army). Renewing a rivalry with Kansas on a regular basis would satisfy that non-scheduling requirement for the Tigers. The Big 12 has no such non-conference scheduling requirement (nor will it).

Thunder general manager Sam Presti, along with his metrics analyst Oliver Winterbone, who served from 2010-14 as Donovan’s video coordinator, had visited Gainesville in February and attended Gators practices, shoot-arounds and a couple games.

They likely weren’t there four days to scout Chris Walker...

Foley told White he wanted to bring a search committee party to Ruston, La. To White’s house. To meet both he and wife Kira.

White, though, wasn’t sure his home was the best venue for a meeting.

“I have to warn you, we’ve got five kids,” he said. “If you don’t mind dealing with throw-up and apple sauce ... .”

Q: A lot of people pointed to this rule as the "Jonathan Taylor" rule. (Taylor was dismissed from the University of Georgia after being charged with domestic violence. He was accepted at the University of Alabama before being dismissed after he was arrested). Looking back on the vetting process, what could you guys have done differently in handling this situation?

A: Looking back, other than not taking him at all, I don't know what we could've done differently. He understood that this was his last chance. He had gotten good reports from the (Copiah-Lincoln) junior college he went to. Coach Saban has had experience both ways. There have been a lot of guys that people thought couldn't make it that ended up making it, but we don't need to stop giving people chances.

Q: Both you and coach Saban have touched on the Power 5 conferences playing by the same rules. Is that a realistic goal?

A: The five commissioners have been meeting on the NCAA governance changes and the autonomy for probably three years. There's conversation, and certainly there's hope that we can all operate under the same rules and guidelines. Whether we can or not remains to be seen. I'm hopeful that will happen.

Q: Another big topic that continues to come up is cost of attendance...

Q: When we spoke last year, you were a little skeptical about (offensive coordinator) Lane Kiffin coming in. But then you were able to meet him and warm up to him. How was Year 1 with Kiffin?

A: He did as good a coaching job as I've ever seen. What he did with Blake Sims and our offense was pretty incredible.

AL.com sports ‏@aldotcomSports Jun 15

Alabama 5-year run of team national titles ends, wins 5 individual crowns in 2014-15. http://ow.ly/OlmfH

What a spectacular miscalculation. What disarray. What a joke. What a time to be Joe Alleva.

With all the sincerity of Voldemort, LSU's athletic director announced Saturday night that “Les Miles is our football coach and will continue to be our football coach.”

Well, at least until Jimbo Fisher says yes.

Florida State's coach ultimately wasn't enticed to come to LSU, so life goes on in Baton Rouge. Well, as much as it can in a world where Alleva had Miles run out after 11 years without much of a succession plan.

See, that's how these things work. If you're going to fire a highly successful coach, you sure as hell better have the next guy locked up.

Turns out Alleva really had no idea what he was doing.

Now who deserves to be fired?

Can you believe this? Miles was taken down from the gallows in the same public way he was hoisted up on them. Shabbily.

Auburn athletics director entered his 11th year on the job one week ago and he has no plans of stepping down from his post leading the athletics department.

"I'm not retiring, stepping down," Jacobs said Tuesday during an appearance on WJOX-FM's Opening Drive. "I don't have anything else that I want to do right now. I love what I'm doing. When I get to the point I'm not excited about getting up and going to work every morning for these student-athletes I'll probably do something different."

The former Auburn offensive lineman added he has a "multi-year contract and I plan to honor it." Jacobs did not immediately respond to an AL.com request attempting to clarify the length of the contract.

"Look, when you go 6-6 in football all kinds of rumors pop out," Jacobs said.

"Our history has been that we haven't been consistent, but fortunately the last five years we've been able to hire two guys and go to the national championship for those two years and win one of them," Jacobs said during an apperance on the Opening Drive on WJOX-FM. "And Gus was the offensive coordinator in 2010, so when people talk about hot seat, hey, in this business, everybody is on the hot seat every day. That's what you sign up for. That's what makes this league really good."

Auburn has had double-digit win seasons in back-to-back years only once: in 1988 and 1989. The Tigers fell short of repeating that feat in 2014 with an 8-5 record.

Jacobs, who fully supports Malzahn, pointed out that four SEC teams have played and won at least one national title over the last nine seasons: Alabama, Auburn, Florida and LSU.

"Well, there are 10 others that haven't, so sometimes we lose a little bit of perspective of how tough it is," Jacobs said. "But I believe ... there has to be some consistency. Hey, look, there's no excuse for going 6-6 at Auburn, even though you lost a couple of games by one possession or less. But still you have a change in quarterback. We have to have some consistency in what we're doing. I know that Gus is a proven guy who can get that done."

BATON ROUGE – About $400,000 more in yearly salary, a long-term contract, virtual absolution of a $625,000 buyout owed to LSU, a better retirement and the Joe Alleva Factor are five reasons why defensive coordinator Kevin Steele is now Auburn's defensive coordinator after one season at LSU.

"We're extremely excited to have a guy with his experience, his character, his work ethic," Auburn coach Gus Malzahn said on Tuesday afternoon when he announced Steele's hiring after beating Memphis, 31-10, in the Birmingham Bowl. "He'll fit in very well. He's going to take over a talented group."

Miles tried to keep Steele when the two met Tuesday morning in Houston, Texas, after the Tigers' defense played well in a 56-27 win over Texas Tech in the Texas Bowl. But Steele said no and left for Auburn Tuesday evening.

Steele, 57, will replace Will Muschamp, who is now the head coach at South Carolina, and is expected to make an average of $1.4 million a year for three years with easily attainable incentives.

With four seasons under his belt at Alabama as an assistant coach (2007-08 and 2013 and '14), he will be able to take advantage of the lucrative pension in the state of Alabama retirement system by staying at Auburn for several years. The state of Alabama's retirement system was one reason former Alabama player Bill Oliver left the University of Alabama following the 1995 season after 15 years as an assistant there over two stints to join rival Auburn's staff as defensive coordinator.

Steele is also leaving, according to those in his camp, because of the "Alleva Factor." Steele did not feel that he and other LSU assistant coaches and head coach Les Miles had the administrative support from LSU athletic director Joe Alleva and others last season and did not feel the staff would have much support in the 2016 season.

Alleva and multiple members of LSU's Board of Supervisors were moving toward firing Miles during a three-game losing streak in November after the Tigers got off to a 7-0 start and reached No. 2 in the nation. LSU President F. King Alexander then stepped in during the week of LSU's final regular season game against Texas A&M and ended up deciding to retain Miles during the Tigers' 19-7 victory over the Aggies on Nov. 28 that finished an 8-3 season.

Steele and other LSU assistants felt like LSU's athletic department and other administrators nit-picked Miles' day-to-day job on and off the field during the 2015 season and frequently caused more problems than they tried to solve, particularly in comparison to other places these assistants have worked. One LSU assistant coach told Steele that Alleva has been wanting to fire Miles since the 21-0 loss to Alabama in the BCS national championship game on Jan. 9, 2012.

After Miles was retained by Alexander, Steele still felt that there was a chance Miles could be fired if LSU played poorly in the Texas Bowl against Texas Tech on Tuesday night. That did not happen...

SEC said it may comment on the impending fine Monday, but the structure shows Auburn could be due to pay as much as $100,000 to the conference. The SEC passed a resolution to increase fines in May 2015: $50,000 for first offense; $100,000 for second offense; $250,000 for the third offense.

"I supported the more expensive fine structure, like we all did, just to try to protect ourselves and the students and athletes," Jacobs said. "It's certainly a great win. The fine will not take anything from that."

Jacobs says Auburn has hired a staff psychologist. "Mental health is a serious issue in college today, on all campuses, and I take it seriously and we're going to do everything we possibly can to create a healthy environment for all of our student-athletes."

Auburn athletics is on solid ground financially. Auburn finished with a $6.9 million in surplus and put back $5 million for future facility improvement. There is $30 million in reserves, says Jacobs.

Auburn athletic director, who last month said there is "no excuse for going 6-6 at Auburn," stands by his football coach.

"I believed in Gus when we hired him, I still believe in Gus," Jacobs said following a speech on Tuesday. "Football season is about what, eight-and-a-half months away, and we're excited about what's going to happen."

Auburn is coming of a disappointing 2015 season in which the Tigers were picked to win the SEC and contend for the national championship and instead went 7-6 overall and 2-6 in SEC play, finishing last in the SEC West.

The Tigers closed the season with an impressive 31-10 victory over Memphis in the Birmingham Bowl to finish what was arguably the worst year of offense ever for Malzahn.

Malzahn, whose contract runs through the 2019 season, is scheduled to be paid $4.1 million this season, with his salary rising $250,000 in each subsequent year until it hits $5.1 million in 2019.

"In this business, everybody is on the hot seat every day," Jacobs said during a radio interview last month. "That's what you sign up for. That's what makes this league really good."

Malzahn recently hired Kevin Steele to take over as defensive coordinator and brought in Wesley McGriff to serve as co-defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach, promoted Travis Williams to linebackers coach and hired Herb Hand as offensive line coach.

Auburn sold out its last 16 home games, dating back to the 2013 Georgia game...

Yesterday we reported news of a grad assistant leaving one program to accept a quality control position at another program. We do this nearly every single day this time of year, our bread and butter. We report it…the coaching profession appreciates & relies upon this info. Trust me on this.

In this case a defensive grad assistant was leaving Mississippi State for a quality control position at Miami.

So, I was taken aback a bit when Mississippi State’s director of media relations Bill Martin chose to tweet the following in response to our report that one of their guys was leaving for Miami.

LSU students hurled obscenities, ice and objects during and immediately after the Tigers’ 77-75 loss in men’s basketball Saturday against No. 1-ranked Oklahoma.

Obscene chants directed at Oklahoma star shooting guard Buddy Hield rose from the packed student section on two or three occasions during the game. After the game, students booed and threw ice and towels as the Sooners left the court on a corner of the court at the end where the student section is located.

The actions drew denouncements from national media as well as LSU athletic director Joe Alleva.

“I am very disappointed with the language used by our students,” Alleva said Monday. “They should act with class and respect our opponents. Their language is embarrassing and motivates our opponent.”

A request for comment Monday morning from LSU President F. King Alexander did not immediately draw a response.

LSU police said there were no arrests or charges filed associated with behavior at Saturday's game.

"Generally, if a student is ejected from a game, they are referred to Student Advocacy & Accountability, and they would go through the accountability process outlined in the student code of conduct," said Ernie Ballard III, LSU Police media relations director.

A lawsuit filed Tuesday by six female former students at the University of Tennessee alleged top campus officials fostered a campus culture that enabled sexual assault and harassment by male student-athletes and then allowed those athletes to either transfer or graduate with no discipline.

Chief among the officials highlighted in the lawsuit is Dave Hart, the university's athletics director since 2011.

Hart has been at the center of controversies that accused him of mishandling sexual assault allegations and of sexism for more than a decade, dating back to his time at Florida State University.

During Hart's tenure as athletics director at FSU, his department mishandled a rape allegation by failing to report the claim to law enforcement, leading to the creation of a special task force to study how sexual assaults are handled there, Betty Steffens, former FSU general counsel and chairwoman of that task force, told The Tennessean last year.

Vanderbilt athletic director David Williams is preaching patience when it comes to evaluating the job status of his basketball coaches.

On Wednesday, Williams said, “You kind of wait until the end (of the season to evaluate coaches). People need to understand that you need to be fair in this. We have standards and we want to meet those standards, but at the same time, we always want to be fair in how we do it.”

Williams said he spent much of Wednesday morning taking calls and answering emails from frustrated fans after Vanderbilt’s men lost 75-74 at Mississippi State Tuesday night, a loss that ultimately could keep the Commodores out of the NCAA Tournament.

Kevin Stallings: "Show me a team ever that finished 7th in their league & played in NIT & went to Final Four the next year. I bet you can't"